Scores of ANC supporters from across the country are slowly trickling to the Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga ahead of the party’s 112th anniversary celebrations.
Party leader Cyril Ramaphosa was expected to deliver his annual January statement to ANC supporters and members.
Ramaphosa was expected to touch on issues affecting South Africans such as the high rate of youth unemployment, inequalities and load shedding.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi said the labour federation expected Ramaphosa to touch on the issue of load shedding.
Losi said the party needed to get its house in order to win the upcoming general elections.
“If we are serious about winning the election and getting the people’s confidence back again we need to address this problem.
“The failure to address this issue lead to many of the workers losing employment due to load shedding,” she said.
At the party’s fifth elective conference, where Ramaphosa clinched a second term as president, the ANC adopted a renewal resolution which was aimed at clamping down on corruption and state capture while also tackling unemployment and load shedding.
This led to the organisation’s implementing rules such as a step aside rule, which saw the party’s then secretary general - and current leader of African Congress for Transformation (ACT) - Ace Magashule being expelled from the ANC.
This led to some party members criticising the resolutions, saying they were used to settle political disputes and also purging them. | Sunday Independent